The Misplaced Math Student: Lost in Eighth-Grade Algebra

Brookings ^ | September 22, 2008 | Tom Loveless

[reaganaut1]

Algebra in eighth grade was once reserved for the mathematically gifted student. In 1990, very few eighth graders, about one out of six, were enrolled in an algebra course. As the decade unfolded, leaders began urging schools to increase that number. President Clinton lamented, “Around the world, middle students are learning algebra and geometry. Here at home, just a quarter of all students take algebra before high school.”1 The administration made enrolling all children in an algebra course by eighth grade a national goal. In a handbook offering advice to middle school students on how to plan for college, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley urged, “Take algebra beginning in the eighth grade and build from there.” Robert Moses ratcheted up the significance of the issue by labeling algebra “The New Civil Right,” thereby highlighting the social consequences of so many poor and minority students taking remedial and general math courses instead of algebra.

The campaign was incredibly successful. Several urban school districts declared a goal of algebra for all eighth graders. In 1996, the District of Columbia led the nation with 53 percent of eighth graders enrolled in algebra. From 1990 to 2000, national enrollment in algebra courses soared from 16 percent to 24 percent of all eighth graders.

...

The push for universal eighth-grade algebra is based on an argument for equity, not on empirical evidence. General or remedial math courses tend to be curricular dead-ends, leading to more courses with the same title (for example, General Math 9, General Math 10) and no real progression in mathematical content.

[reaganaut1]

Many people are not smart enough to learn algebra in 8th grade, and somewhat fewer will be never be smart enough. As the last excerpted paragraph says, many students are not progressing in math beyond middle school. If they are not progressing in other subjects, either, it would be better for them and the taxpayer to leave school, ideally with a "junior high school" diploma that certifies their ability to read and do arithmetic, at least.

[Tublecane]

I learned algebra in eighth grade. I liked Geometry better. I learned to like calculus more after I left high school, read about Newton, and learned what the heck I had been studying (i.e. motion).

Civil rights issue my ass. Let minorities fend for themselves in the marketplace for a few generations. Eventually, they’ll invest in their childrens’ education on their own.

[period end of story]

[IrishCatholic]

I disagree.
You presume the teachers were competent.

My math skills are horrible. I went to public school and did quite well. Then I went to a Catholic college and took the next level- calculus. I quickly found out the grades from the public school weren't worth spit. I had reached college with almost a complete lack of understanding of the fundamentals.

Fortunately, I am devastatingly handsome. So I did fine.
Terrible liar though.

[CE2949BB]

Many people are not smart enough to learn algebra in 8th grade,

8th grade? I'm blaming the teachers, from K to 8.

and somewhat fewer will be never be smart enough.

Applied effort can accomplish amazing things. Barring a serious disability, it's possible for anyone to learn algebra.

[DB]

Algebra wasn’t offered in 8th grade when I went to school.

My daughter is taking it in 8th grade now. We’ll see how it goes.

[Lazarus Starr]

I was studying Algebra in sixth grade in Ketchikan AK back in 78. Seems to me, if anything, we’ve gone backwards, not forwards.

[JennysCool]

My daughter couldn’t grasp it at all, DB. I think Algebra is the course where our techno-kids — for whom every answer is on Google or on a calculator — hit their Waterloo.

We’re hoping tutoring works — I know I don’t remember enough to help!

[JennysCool]

I think Jimmy Buffett has it figured out, though:

If necessity is the mother of invention
Then I’d like to kill the guy who invented this
The numbers come together in some kind of 3rd dimension
A regular algebraic bliss.
Let’s start with something simple
Like one and one ain’t three
And two plus two will never get you five
There’s fractions in my subtraction
And X don’t equal Y
But my homework is bound to multiply

Math sucks (math sucks)
Math sucks (math sucks)
I’d like to burn this textbook, I hate this stuff so much!
Math sucks (math sucks)
Math sucks (math sucks)
Sometimes I think that I don’t know that much—But math sucks!

I got so bored with my homework
I turned on the T.V.
The beauty contest winners were all smiling through their teeth
They asked the new Miss America “Hey babe, can you add up all those bucks?”
She looked puzzled then just said, “Math Sucks!”

Math sucks (math sucks)
Math sucks (math sucks)
You don’t even have to spell it, all you have to do is yell it
Math sucks (math sucks)
Math sucks (math sucks)
Sometimes I think that I don’t know that much—But math sucks!

Geometry, trigonometry, and if that don’t tax your brain
There are numbers to big to be named (too big to be named)
Numerical precision is a science with a mission
And I think it’s gonna drive me insane

Parents fighting with their children and the Congress can’t agree,
Teachers and their students are all jousting constantly
Management and labor keep rattling old sabers,
Quacking like those Peabody ducks

Math sucks (quack quack)
Math sucks (quack quack)
You don’t even have to spell it, all you have to do is yell it!
Math sucks (math sucks)
Math sucks (math sucks)
Sometimes I think that I don’t know that much—But math sucks!

Math sucks, math sucks, math sucks the big one
Math sucks, math sucks, math sucks the big one

[repeat until end, fades out]

[dalereed]

“I was studying Algebra in sixth grade in Ketchikan AK back in 78”

I had it in the 7th grade in 1950.

[DB]

I don’t think everyone fits in the same mold or should.

Someone that has a very hard time with Algebra could be a great medical doctor or lawyer for example. We all think differently and much of life is learning about making the most of the gifts we do have whatever they might be.

[DB]

Let's be a little more specific. “Algebra” is a pretty loose term and many grade levels touch on it. I assume what we are talking about here is specifically what's known as Algebra 1. It was common that you took Algebra 1 followed by Geometry followed by Algebra 2 and then Trig and pre Calculus.

Are we talking about the same thing?

[ApplegateRanch]

Algebra in eighth grade was once reserved for the mathematically gifted student.

And a generation or so prior to that, it (along with basic plane geometry & basic trig) was standard fare by & through eighth grade.

I've seen & used the texts.

[tongass kid]

Algebra is more than math, it is conceptual thinking in a mathematical environment. Some people have difficulty thinking conceptually and therefore have difficulty with algebra. Algebra is a line in the sand used by educators in evaluating if a person is ready to learn greater conceptual concepts in math and other science classes.

[dalereed]

Had algerbra 7th grade, geometry in the 8th.

Had trig in the 9th grade in junior high before going to high school.

[Myrddin]

I was learning algebra in 6th grade. My teacher did a good job and I sailed through the rest of my math classes in grades 7-9. Geometry was offered in 10th grade and was dirt simple. It was augmented with trigonometry and a bit of what was labeled "math analysis" as a prelude to calculus. I finished high school in 2 years, thus putting off calculus until my freshman year at UCSD. Some of my prior class was offered calculus in the 12th grade. Simple differential and integral calculus was a must for freshman physics. You were expected to comprehend how the first derivative of distance over time yielded velocity, 2nd derivative yielded acceleration, 3rd derivative yielded jerk. By my 2nd year at UCSD, my physics profs expected to me be able to express the derivative of nearly any element with respect to another to quantify how various elements interact. If you weren't up to that level of performance, it was probably a good idea to consider a different major.

[DB]

Impressive.

[Myrddin]

Someone that has a very hard time with Algebra could be a great medical doctor or lawyer for example.

Maybe a lawyer. Not a doctor. The physics, biology and chemistry classes on the way to medical school require mathematical skills that include a minimum of algebra, trigonometry, differential and integral calculus. A pre-med student would have all of this mastered before the first day of med school.

[Gemsbok]

And a top lawyer would do well to have developed the analytical thinking skills that Algebra and Geometry develop.

[joydocsusie]

EVEN A PERSON WITH A SERIOUS DISABILITY CAN LEARN ALGEBRA. I KNOW.